Doll walking mechanism



Sept. 23, 1969 R. GARDEL ETAL DOLL WALKING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 16. 1967 FIG-2 WW I Maw Sept. 23, 1969 R. GARDEL ETAL DOLL WALKING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 23 Filed Feb. 16. 1967 INVENTORS p 1969 R. GARDEL ET AL 3,468,055

DOLL WALKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 16, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR 5 FIG-H FIG.I2

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,468,056 DOLL WALKING MECHANISM Robert Gardel, New York, and Egon Gorsky, Brooklyn,

N.Y., assignors to Lettam, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Feb. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 616,643 Int. Cl. A63h 11/14, 1/20 US. Cl. 46-149 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A doll walking mechanism of great simplicity in which doll legs, rotatably mounted in circular leg openings of the body (torso) are interconnected for reciprocal movement through the provision of a cross bar or rocker pivotally supported on a bracket fixed to the body for rocking movement about a substantially horizontal axis, the ends of the cross bar being engaged in channels formed in the upper ends of the legs and being releasable from the channels to permit moving the legs to sitting position.

FIELD OF INVENTION a horizontal axis about which the rocker moves in a vertical plane, releasably engaging specialliy formed upper ends of the legs. The oscillating beam in Ostrander Patent No. 2,739,417 moves similarly but is permanently connected to each leg by links and its axis is directly above the leg axis.

SUMMARY It is an object of the invention to combine a bracket fixed in the lower part of the doll body and a cross bar (or rocker) loosely supported on the bracket, as the minimum necessary mechanical elements, arranged to cooperate with specially formed closed top legs to constitute a doll walking mechanism which is functionally equivalent to the commonly used arrangement of a rocker mounted on a vertical axis and engaged by fiingers or the like projecting upward from the legs. In the present sima plified mechanism the legs are formed not only to engage securely the ends of the cross bar, so that movement of one leg forward causes the other leg to move rearward, but also to permit either or both legs to be moved to sitting position, whenever desired. This is accomplished by providing inwardly projecting cylindrical stumps at the top of the legs, each stump having a channel extending axially along its rear surface and each channel having one wall in a substantially radial plane and the opposite wall somewhat slanted. The bracket on which the cross bar is mounted provides sufiicient resiliency to permit the ends of the cross bar to ride up the slanted walls of the channels when the legs are forced toward sitting position, while holding said ends firmly in the channels during normal walking movement. The axis of rotation of the cross bar is substantially in the same horizontal plane as the axes of rotation of the legs.

Practical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a side elevation, partly in section, of a doll torso and left leg;

3,468,056 Patented Sept. 23, 1969 "ice FIG. 2 represents a detail transverse vertical section on the line IIII of FIG. 1, with legs in standing position;

FIG. 3 represents a detail perspective view of the upper end of the right leg;

FIG. 4 represents a vertical section as in FIG. 2 with the right leg moved forward;

FIG. 5 represents a detail exploded view of the mechanical parts of the walking mechanism;

FIG. 6 represents a side elevation, partly in section as in FIG. 1 with the left leg moved to sitting position;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrammatic perspective views of simulated legs and walking mechanism, illustrating the principal of operation of the actual mechanism;

FIG. 9 represents a detail elevation, from the rear, of a modified form of bracket and cross bar (rocker);

FIG. 10 represents a vertical section on the line XX of FIG. 9; and

FIGS. 11 and 12 represent detail vertical sections showing alternative modes of attaching the cross bar (rocker) to its supporting bracket.

Referring to the drawings, the doll body or torso 1 (of molded plastic material) is provided with circular leg openings 2 lying in planes which depart only slightly (e.g. 15) from the vertical. The legs 3 are correspondingly turned inward at the top and have integrally formed cylindrical stumps 4 within the body. Annular grooves 5 between the legs 3 and stumps 4 are of a diameter to fit freely in the leg openings, the stumps being of a larger diameter than the openings but the material of the body and/ or legs being sufficiently resilient to permit forcing the stumps 4 through the openings to bring the periphery of each leg opening into engagement with the respective groove 5.

Each stump 4 is shown as having formed in its rear surface an axially extending channel 6, the lower wall 7 of which lies in a substantially radial plane while the upper wall 8 slopes less steeply, and may desirably also be angled away ,from the lower wall toward the intersection of the channel with the groove 5, as shown in FIG. 3.

The mechanical elements of the mechanism comprise a generally L-shaped bracket 9, having its lower end fixed to the bottom of the doll body, as by rivets 10, and a cross bar or rocker 11, mounted on the bracket 9 near its upper end. In the preferred form shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, the cross bar is connected to the bracket for limited movement in certain directions by means of a U-shaped yoke 12, the sides of which are spaced more widely than the width of the bracket, and the ends of which have holes 13 to re ceive snugly the cross bar 11. The parts shown separated in FIG. 5 are assembled by passing a headed pin 14 through a hole 15 in the middle of the yoke, then through a hole 16 near the upper end of the brfacket 9, then through a small spring 17, after which the end of the pin is upset to retain the spring on the pin. The cross bar 11 is passed through the holes 13, staked each side of the yoke to retain it in place, and, with the bracket fixed in the doll body as noted above, it will be seen that the cross bar can rock in an approximately vertical plane between limits determined by the width of the yoke 12 as compared to the width of the bracket (FIG. 4) and can also be moved bodily (or either end at a time) toward the bracket against the force of the spring 17 (FIG. 6). The bracket is so placed in the doll body that the ends of the cross bar are normally engaged in the channels 6 of each leg. In this position the swinging of either leg forward or backward, as in walking, causes its channel to move downward or upward (FIG. 4) and results in equal and opposite movement of the other leg. The doll can thus be hand-walked by holding the body or an arm and tilting from side to side as it is moved forward, the tilt each way from upright being indicated by angle a in FIG. 4.

The walking movement is illustrated diagrammatically in FIGS. 7 and 8, the simulated parts and features being given the same numerals as those in the description text and FIG. 7 representing the parts at rest in a standing position while FIG. 8 represents the taking of a step forward by the right leg 3R as the body is tilted to the left, putting the weight of the doll on the left leg 3L and freeing the right leg. When the body is then tilted to the right the weight will shift and the left leg will move forward.

A somewhat simpler form of bracket and cross bar is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 where the bracket is narrowed near its upper end to form shoulders 21, the narrowed part of the bracket passing loosely through a slot 22 in an angle shaped cross bar 23 which rests on the shoulders 21 and is held on the bracket by a rearwardly bent tab 24 cut from the upper end of the bracket.

FIG. 11 shows an alternative connection in which a flap 25 is cut from an angle shaped cross bar 26 (similar to bar 23), turned upward, and fastened to the bracket 27 by means of a loose rivet 28. In FIG. 12 the angle shaped cross bar 29 (like bar 23) is held on the bracket by means of a U-shaped retainer 30 one end of which passes through a hole in the bracket and is turned up as shown at 31.

In each of the forms shown in FIGS. 9 to 12 the engagement of the cross bar with the bracket is loose enough to permit rocking of the cross as required for walking movement of the legs. When the legs are turned to sitting position the bracket itself is bent resiliently rearwardserving the function of the compression spring 17 in FIG. 6. While the walls 8 in the channels 6 are sloped to permit the ends of the cross bar to ride up out of the channels when desired, the radial walls 7 effectively prevent the legs from being turned unnaturally backward.

Doll bodies normally are fuller in the lower rear than in the front so that it is normally preferable to form the channels 6 in the rear of the stumps 4 and locate the bracket and cross bar correspondingly. However, the channels, bracket and cross bar could, if desired, be located in the lower front part of the doll where they would function in the same manner. If located above or below the leg stumps, with the cross bar rocking in a horizontal plane as previously known, the operation would be similar but difiiculties in molding and installation might be encountered. The stumps 4, shown as cylinders of basically circular cross-section, could be of oval or other crosssection.

It will be understood that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and hence we do not intend to be limited to the details shown or described herein except as the same are included in the claims or may be required by disclosures of the prior art.

What we claim is:

1. In a doll, a walking mechanism of the type in which the doll legs are journaled in leg openings in the lower side portions of the torso, an integral inwardly projecting part on each leg being provided with a substantially horizontal open channel extending in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the leg, a cross bar having ends resting in said channels, and resilient support means urging said cross bar in a horizontal direction into said channels and towards the bottom of said channels, the point of connection between the cross bar and support means constituting a pivot point around which the cross bar can rock in a substantially vertical plane.

2. A doll walking mechanism according to claim 1 in which the inwardly projecting parts are basically cylindrical and each channel is bounded in part by a substantially radially disposed wall and a sloping wall.

3. A doll walking mechanism according to cairn 2 in which the angle of said sloping walls permits the ends of the cross bar to ride up out of the channels when the legs are turned to sitting position.

4. A doll walking mechanism according to claim 1 in which the support means is a bracket fixed to the bottom of the doll body and projecting freely upward to a point between the inner ends of the recesses the connection between the cross bar and support means including a spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,835,075 5/1958 Weih 46-149 2,835,076 5/1958 Weih 46-149 2,996,838 8/1961 Beebe 46-149 H. DINITZ, Assistant Examiner F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 46-161 

